60 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



snows occasionally give warning that winter is at hand, 

 the moose deer leave the morass and river banks for 

 higher ground. Here they collect in families, previous 

 to yarding, which takes place as soon as the lands of 

 these northern wilds have received their annual deep 

 and pure white covering. At this time the moose 

 lives in comparative security, his length of limb and 

 tremendous power enabling him to defy all pursuers. 

 Enjoy 'well thy re*st enjoy it, I say, for it is but for 

 a short season : for when the sun again warms the 

 landscape, and a crust becomes formed through the 

 thaw by day and frost of night, powerful and noble 

 though you be, you will require more than that super- 

 human power to save you from the persevering Indian 

 or venturous white man. Poor creature ! your chance 

 when pursued, after a heavy crust is formed, is indeed 

 small. I know no denizen of the forest that, at any 

 period of life, has the odds so fearfully against him. 



As may be imagined, then, the end of February and 

 March are the periods when the greatest havoc among 

 these animals takes place, and I regret to say that 

 frequently the fiendish love of carnage alone seems to 

 occupy the mind of the pursuer. I have known 

 instances I grieve to say many when moose have 

 been killed simply for the sake of killing; for, with 

 the exception of one or two titbits, the giant carcass 

 has been left to satiate the appetite of the wild beasts 

 of the forest. If one who has been guilty of such 

 unjustifiable conduct should read this, let his con- 

 science reproach him for the past, and the sting of 

 remorse cause him to resolve never to be again an 

 offender. 



The exact position of the scene which I am about 



